Deputies who made two separate traffic stops found crack cocaine in the vehicles.

About $17,000 worth of crack cocaine was uncovered in one of the stops, while the second involved a large piece of crack worth about $200 on the streets, said Pearl River County Chief Investigator Donnie Saucier He said both stashes of the drug were discovered as officers with the department were on patrol.

The first traffic stop in which the drug was found took place on Friday as Deputy Justin Faia was patrolling in the city of Picayune on Kirkwood Street Saucier said.

Faia conducted a stop on the vehicle for careless driving and when he stepped up to the vehicle he detected the odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle, Saucier said. The chief deputy said the driver of the vehicle and his passenger, Kenomte Simmons, 20, of 517 N. Abrams Ave., were asked to step out of the vehicle and Narcotics investigators Sgt. Justin Farmer and Van Giadrosich were called to the scene.

When the two investigators arrived, they asked Faia to run his K-9 around the vehicle, but at that point Simmons said he had crack cocaine on his person and pulled a plastic bag from his buttocks, Saucier said. Inspection of the bag found about 24 grams of the drug in the bag, which Saucier estimates is worth about $17,000 on the streets.

While Simmons was charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, further investigation into the incident discovered that the driver had no knowledge of the crack cocaine that Simmons was carrying in his buttocks and was released, Saucier said.

A second incident occurred on Monday when a deputy witnessed a vehicle cross the center line several times as it traveled on Anchor Lake Road, Saucier said. The deputy conducted a stop on the vehicle and found 27 year-old Kerri Perrin of 137 Anchor Lake Rd., behind the wheel and 26 year-old Alice Creppel of 2 Dogwood Dr., Carriere in the passenger seat, Saucier said.

While the deputy spoke with the vehicle’s occupants, he noticed they were acting nervously and giving inconsistent stories concerning their destination, prompting the deputy to ask for consent to search the vehicle, Saucier said. During the search the deputy found a large piece of crack cocaine in a purse on the front passenger seat that subsequent investigation determined had just been purchased by the suspects at an unknown location in Carriere, the chief investigator said.

Saucier said both Perrin and Creppel were charged with felony possession of crack cocaine.